


Of Curses and Love

by lizard444



Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime & Manga)
Genre: AZ secret santa, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Magic, combination of visuals and writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 15:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9447596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizard444/pseuds/lizard444
Summary: An attempt at an Aldnoah.Zero fantasy AU by Lizard444Originally a gift to the talented, creative mind of Paperballoon for A.Z Secret Santa 2016





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paperballoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperballoon/gifts).



Once, not long ago, there was a kingdom named Vers, ruled by a tiny royal family made up of two. The ruler of Vers was his majesty king Rayregalia Vers Reyvers. His only living relative was his kindhearted and beautiful granddaughter, princess Asseylum Vers Allusia. What made this royal family so special and powerful was their ability to control Aldnoah. Aldnoah was the fancy term used by the great wizard Troyard to describe the royal family’s newly found magical powers.

The great wizard Troyard and his son, Slaine Troyard, left their native lands of Erath to pursue more knowledge of magic. When they came across Vers, the great wizard Troyard could feel the massive dormant aura of power coming off the Aldnoah within the land. After speaking to the late prince Gilzeria about the many benefits of magic, he was allowed citizenship of Vers for him and his son as long as they swore their uttermost loyalty to the crown and taught Vers novelty how to make use of this newly found power. The magician agreed and he and his son were housed within the confines of the castle. The great wizard Troyard began his research of the strange magic while serving as a formal advisor and mentor of magic to the king and nobles. Meanwhile, his son, Slaine Troyard, served as princess Asseylum’s teacher.

Although Slaine himself was incapable of using Aldnoah, he taught Asseylum all he knew from his father’s teachings and research. In return, the princess offered him a fruitful friendship. The young boy fell in love with the beautiful golden haired princess. In his young mind, he thought impressing her would make her like him more, so he continued studying magic alongside his father.

However, another boy soon came in to the picture: Inaho Kaizuka. He was the son of the most noble knight out of all of Vers’ vassals. Since a very young age, Lord Kaizuka taught Inaho the many skills of the royal knights. Inaho and his older sister, Yuki, both witnessed the atrocities of war first hand. Lord Kaizuka knew his life was often in danger and he wanted his children to be as useful to the throne as he. Inaho could come up with logical successful operations like no one else, while Yuki was a brutal force in battle in spite of the fact that she was one of the few women allowed in the front lines. Unfortunately, Lord Kaizuka’s plan to make his children the best nobles of the land was cut short as he was forced in to a situation in which he had to sacrifice himself for the king. Lord Kaizuka, however, died a noble death at the foot of battle against the land of Erath. His sacrifice saved many Versian lives and did not go unnoticed by his majesty.

Inaho and Yuki did not cry as they discovered they would be orphaned. They were ready for the day. Both followed their father’s wishes and rose through the ranks. The many victories of Inaho’s battle plans made an impact on princess Asseylum. She was so baffled that a boy near her age was so gifted in combat, that she herself gave him the title of the throne’s right-hand noble so he could uphold his father’s legacy through not only his last name, but also through his highest rank. Although he was accustomed to the atrocities of war since youth, the knights were too prideful to be “bossed around” by a “tiny runt”, therefore he was ignored until his sister stepped up to voice out his orders.

What the knights were unaware of was that princess Asseylum gave something else to Inaho aside from her blessings and a high ranking title. Upon Inaho’s honor ceremony, Asseylum also called for Slaine to present himself. She gave to him a newly made title as the royal family’s most honorable magician. She then surprised both young boys with an incantation that the wizard Troyard had taught her grandfather. Said incantation gave both boys the ability to use Aldnoah. She figured Slaine was kindhearted enough to never use it for anything other than research, and Inaho could use it to further prove himself worthy in battle. Both boys were baffled when their magic began manifesting itself. That was when Inaho not only was asked to live within the castle, but also to begin attending princess Asseylum’s study sessions with Slaine.

Both boys tried to win over her attention while princess Asseylum only enjoyed both their company and their constant friendly bickering and fights.

Everything continued going fine until one tragic night. The great wizard Troyard was in his lab trying to create a spell that would create beasts to help Vers’ knights gain the upper hand on the battlefield. Unfortunately, he miscalculated the strength of the spell and instead created an untamable beast that ripped him to shreds. The beast escaped his lab and both Slaine and Inaho were called out to fight the monster after several of the castle’s knights perished to the grand beast’s deadly claws and razor-sharp teeth.

Upon hearing the beast had come from the hand of Slaine’s father, many nobles believed him to be a traitor to the throne. Many believed the wizard had a change of heart and intended to murder the last two remaining members of the throne. Others believed the wizard and his son had been traitors all along since they had come from Erath many years ago. To end these accusations, the princess had to send Slaine away from the castle to live under the care of another noble, Lord Sazzbaum.

 

Lord Sazzbaum was a noble whose land was the farthest from the castle. Slaine knew he would not be able to see the princess for a long time, and it made him crestfallen. Lord Sazzbaum was kind to Slaine. Apparently, his father had saved Lord Sazzbaum once after he had been mortally wounded in battle. Lord Sazzbaum expressed both his gratitude towards the great wizard, and his sorrow at being unable to properly say goodbye. Lord Sazzbaum also told Slaine that he himself was a believer of all the good Aldnoah could bring to the world. Slaine always found Lord Sazzbaum’s devotion towards the magic a bit odd. How could he be so fond of something he’s only witnessed once? Unfortunately, Slaine got his answer too soon.

 

After hearing Lord Sazzbaum’s intent to murder the princess and her grandfather, Slaine tried to escape. Maybe if he could get to the castle fast enough, he could warn the royal knights! However, he was caught before he could get very far.

Lord Sazzbaum did not want to kill the boy. All he needed was to hide him away so he couldn’t tell others what he had heard. He called to Lemrina, and ordered her to cast a spell on the boy that would render him unrecognizable, confined to an area far within the woods, and would not kill him with time. As Lemrina cast the spell, Slaine learnt why Lord Sazzbaum’s devotion laid on Aldnoah and not on the royal family.

 

 

 

 

 

On their way to Slaine’s confinement, Lord Sazzbaum introduced Lemrina to Slaine as princess Asseylum’s half-sister. Gilzeria had confessed the secret to Lord Sazzbaum as the prince laid on his deathbed. Apparently, up to Gilzeria’s death, Lemrina had been housed within the castle as a maid. At the time, Lemrina had shown no signs of Aldnoah manifesting. All she was to Gilzeria was a reminder of his wrongful actions upon learning of his wife’s terminal illness, and the adultery that culminated from them. But even upon his death bed, he couldn’t order for his own blood to be killed. He did the next best thing and left her on the hands of the lord that lived farthest from the castle. He ordered Lord Sazzbaum to take care of her on his behalf, and to not let knowledge of her royal blood reach others’ ears.

 

With time, Lord Sazzbaum also learned that the great wizard also had knowledge of the great secret Gilzeria had held for so long. This information soon became a blessing as Lemrina showed signs of her own powers. The wizard Troyard allowed Lord Sazzbaum to borrow many of his spell books and research so Lemrina could learn to use Aldnoah herself. Lord Sazzbaum’s plan was then to nurture and treat Lemrina as his own flesh and blood. Then, when he had overthrown the current king and princess, Lemrina would step out of the shadows and be crowned queen of Vers. She would then rule with Lord Sazzbaum as her sole advisor and he would then earn the highest noble title in the land.

Lemrina kept quiet through the whole ride.

Slaine was confined to a run-down manor that once had been used by Lord Sazzbaum. Now, it had been long forgotten in the outskirts of Vers.

After a week, Lemrina would make the trip to visit Slaine every day under the excuse of having him teach her more about Aldnoah. He noticed it was a half-baked excuse after she had consistently shown more knowledge and practice than even he. It seemed her biggest reason to visit him was to become his friend. She would express to him how she hated her half-sister because Asseylum never acknowledged her. How she couldn’t help but envy the princess’s perfection constantly. How Lord Sazzbaum was the only one who ever showed her kindness after a life filled with servitude. How Slaine was now her only friend in the entire kingdom and how lonely she had felt before he had arrived. However, the most important bit of information she admitted to Slaine was the cure to his spell. Apparently, the only way to lift his spell was for him to share a true love’s kiss.

After much thinking, Slaine reached the conclusion that Lemrina was far smarter than she seemed. She had a crush on him, and his only way out of this mess was to fall in love with her and kiss her. The faster he did this, the faster he could lift the curse, and the faster he could escape and tell the knights of the vivid danger to the throne.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t bring himself to fall in love with her. He couldn’t bring himself to use her that way. Love wasn’t a thing one could force to happen after all.

 

 

 

Years passed, and Lemrina stopped being able to visit Slaine as frequently. Slaine figured Lord Sazzbaum was busy planning for the overthrow of the king once Lemrina hit her 18th birthday. Slaine had tried everything to escape. His own magic could not rid him of the spell, and all who wondered through the woods would never go near Lord Sazzbaum’s manor. Even if they did, Slaine looked like a beast. No one would have wanted to come have tea with him. He figured that anyone who could see him, would try to kill him right away. So, he lived his days defeated and hopeless. Fortunately, everything changed one stormy night.

Inaho had ordered his sister and her fleet to make a trip to the outskirts of Vers. This was done in order to check up on local gossip that a beast had been spotted in the outskirts of Vers, along the border with Erath, near Lord Sazzbaum’s land. Lord Sazzbaum had denied such accusations stating that his knights could take care of any beast if there were to even be one within his land. Yuki agreed with her brother, and explained that it didn’t hurt to look around, and so off she and her fleet went.

In the pit of darkness and violent rain, Yuki was separated from her knights and wound up in the middle of the woods. In the distance, she saw a manor and decided to ask to take refuge as the storm settled. She left marks on the nearby trees in case said manor was not of a friendly lord, and she wearily approached.

Slaine hid from sight upon hearing the young woman enter the manor. Upon noticing no one seemed to be home, Yuki walked inside. She noticed a plate of warm food and clothes in the main dining room. She was hesitant at first, but she was so hungry and exhausted she couldn’t help herself.

After eating dinner and cleaning up, she looked around the large house to try and figure out which lord it may belong to. Many times there would be large paintings of the owner hanging on the walls, but all she could see were mediocre paintings of the royal family, a strange girl with purple hair, and only one of her younger brother Inaho. The fact that it was the manor belonging to a noble loyal to the Vers throne made her feel safe, but it didn’t last long as she heard a voice speak loudly from the other side of the hall she was in.

“May I ask who you are?”

Yuki turned, hand on her sword, but could not distinguish the figure shadowed by darkness from down the hall.

“I am Yuki Kaizuka, vassal to her highness, princess Asseylum Vers Allusia. I see you are a fellow noble from Vers. I thank you for your hospitality. May you come in to the light so I may recognize you?”

“Princess Asseylum… I’m glad to hear she’s still alive. Is she well, Yuki?”

“Why do you sound as though you not know this? Show yourself!”

“I… I can’t! You’ll be afraid, and I must ask you to trust me with what I have to say!”

“I’ll be afraid of your appearance-?”

“Yes… Look, Yuki, I’ve come across the knowledge that Lord Sazzbaum is after the princess’ life. He wants to overthrow the throne for his own benefit. He plans of unleashing some sort of assassination plot, or beast upon the castle so you must warn the others first thing tomorrow-”

“That is a heavy accusation you just tossed out. Show yourself!”

“You must believe me!”

“Lord Sazzbaum is a loyal noble to the throne. He would never do such a thing. Show yourself!”

“…”

Yuki started walking towards Slaine, and he began to walk back. She suddenly began to sprint towards him, and Slaine tried his best to escape from her sight by hiding in the shadows. The short chase culminated in one of the study rooms. The study room had a secret door that lead to a small secret room behind a bookcase. He figured he would have enough time to run inside and hide there until Yuki was willing to listen. He ran inside the study room, but was unable to open the secret door before Yuki caught him. She threw a net that tangled around his feet, and another that tangled around his wings. He heard a scream, and he knew his only chance of saving the princess was gone.

 

 

 

Inaho heard his sister’s knights came back without knowledge of her whereabouts. He worried the rumors may be true about the beast, and so he set out himself to inspect the area she was last seen at.

Inaho used his Aldnoah to track down his sister’s whereabouts around the land of Lord Sazzbaum. He soon came across the trees that held tied rope around their trunks. He knew this was Yuki’s way of being careful when traveling on unknown territory. However, if he wasn’t mistaken, this was still Sazzbaum’s land. Maybe Yuki was unable to recognize it. She could be an airhead at times, he reckoned. He guided his horse on and soon came across the manor Yuki had found.

Once inside, he looked around and called out. It seemed someone had been living here, but it did not seem to be a manor used by Lord Sazzbaum himself. He examined the large house and looked in every room he could find, but there was no sign of his older sister. His analytical magic-filled eye then informed him there was one last place to check.

Versian manors tended to have large storage rooms underground which lords often would also use as temporary cells to imprison trouble makers. As soon as he reached the storage room, he saw his sister sitting against the bars of one of the cells.

“Yuki?”

“Nao! What a-! Wait, no, you need to get out of here!”

“I’ll get you out Yuki, stand back.”

“No, Nao, leave before it comes back!”

“It?”

They both heard a low growling sound coming from behind Inaho. As they turned, the towering shadow creature which emitted the sound began to speak.

“Inaho? Is that really you?”, the voice asked.

Inaho only squinted while getting in a defense position.

“Please forgive me. Yuki gave me no other choice. I need to talk, but she would neither listen nor believe me.”

“And now you’ll try to brainwash my little brother, you- you beast!”

“Yuki, Remain calm.”

“I’m glad it was you who came, orange. There’s no one else who would be able to believe me… not in the state I am in at least…” the voice said, defeated.

“… bat?”

“Quite literally…”, voiced the dark figure in the shadows as it spread two long black wings.

“Well, if you really are who you say you are… I will stay and hear you out, but you must let my sister go.”

“You’ll take her place?”

“There’s already a rumor starting that a beast has been seen wondering through these woods. If the two Kaizuka nobles went missing, they’ll surely send a fleet of knights to exterminate it.”

“I understand that! Of course Yuki can go!”, the shadow signed as the bars to Yuki’s cell opened.

“Nao! Don’t do this! I-”

“Yuki, I don’t think I’ll be in danger. Take my horse with you and say that your own horse ran off when you got separated from your fleet. Say that I sent you off with my horse so you could go back to town safely, while I stayed behind to take camp. Say I decided to wait and see if I found the rumored beast my way. Don’t mention the manor, don’t mention the fact that I am still within Lord Sazzbaum’s boundaries, but most importantly don’t mention any actual encounters with a beast. If he had truly wanted to kill us, he would’ve done so already.”

“But Nao…”

“He may actually be Slaine, Yuki. We can’t get him killed if it’s truly him.”

 

 

 

After Yuki left, Slaine began to explain everything while still hiding under shadow. He told Inaho about Lord Sazzbaum’s plot against the throne. Then, about Lemrina’s existence and her alliance to Lord Sazzbaum.

Inaho remained calm and unperturbed as he listened to the news.

“So I need you to go back to the castle and up security for the princess so Lord Sazzbaum can’t-”

“What good would having more knights around her do? Lord Sazzbaum is a noble with many connections. I doubt only his knights are on his side. Moreover, we’ve been in a fragile monarchy this whole time. There is only one successor to the throne left, and the only force keeping the nobles away from acting upon their thirst of power is the royal family’s ability to manipulate Aldnoah. The loss of you and your father’s research has surely given the throne a disadvantage and thereby an opening on which Lord Sazzbaum can act. The answer is much simpler if you actually analyze it, Slaine. You just have to gain Lemrina’s trust and convince her to not work for Lord Sazzbaum but for us”.

“How would I do that? Her uttermost loyalty is to-”

“You win over that loyalty through love.”

Inaho couldn’t see Slaine’s reaction, but he could hear a couple of objects hit the floor from within the shadows.

“How can you say it as though it was so simple! I couldn’t use her like that! Plus, I can’t… you just can’t…”

“You still love Asseylum… But you don’t need to love Lemrina the same way. Even I can see that you only care about her as a good friend, but you just need her to love you and that way convince her to care about the people you love.”

“But that’s cruel…?”

“She needs to learn how to love you knowing you won’t return her feelings.”

“Okay, say we act on your plan… how can we win her loyalty over?”

“I will come up with scenarios.”

“You? Orange, you are the least emotional person in existence.”

“I have emotions, Slaine. I just don’t show them. Also, Yuki has tried to get me wed many times now. I narrowly escaped again and again without having those girls as enemies. We’ll just do what I did back then.”

So, the two boys began Inaho’s plan.

 

“You can use this. Take it to Inaho and tell him that you are princess Asseylum’s half-sister, and would like to meet her. With this necklace, he’ll know you mean no harm to her.”

“Wait, you mean Inaho Kaizuka? The noble?”

“Yes, he is a very dear friend of mine. Inaho… he grew up in similar situations to ours. He actually was the one to give me this necklace after my father was killed. He said it proved the owner’s loyalty to her highness… It was his awkward way to tell me he believed I never had bad intentions when it came to the royal family. Everyone around us would call my father and I traitors to the throne, but Inaho believed we were well-intentioned… He believed my innocence.”

So, the stage was set. Lemrina left the manor to the spot where she’d meet Inaho within the woods. The boys figured it would be better to keep Inaho’s alibi that he had been camping in the woods outside Lord Sazzbaum’s property. What Lemrina didn’t know was that the necklace was her last test. When it glowed blue, it meant the person wearing the necklace had pure intentions. If it glowed red, it meant she had intentions to kill. Inaho used an all-seeing eye spell to closely observe if the color changed.

It remained blue throughout the entire trip to the castle as well.

 

 

 

Upon meeting her half-sister, princess Asseylum’s eyes became bright and tears threatened to fall any moment. Inaho decided to leave them alone to bond while he went off to speak to his sister and subordinates.

The next day, Inaho was called to the castle and Asseylum thanked him once again for bringing his half-sister home safely. “Now the Vers royal family is bigger than ever”, she proudly announced.

Inaho then proceeded to explain that his trip to the castle was not just to deliver Lemrina, but to also ask for princess Asseylum’s help. The princess raised her hand to kindly silence Inaho.

“My sister told me everything. She spoke of her time as a servant in the castle, of Lord Sazzbaum’s kindness but ill-intentions to my family, and of Slaine’s curse. She begged me to go to him and break the spell.” She sighed, her cheeks reddening as she continued to speak. “She said she was forced to cast the spell on Slaine and that a kiss from me could break the spell since he had a crush on me when we were kids…”

“Will you do it? You are royalty. We can try searching for another way if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“But he has been with that curse for years! No, I’ve… I’ve spoken to my fiancé and he agrees I should do it for Slaine’s sake.”

“Fiancé, my lady?”

The princess’ eyes grew bright again. “Oh! I forgot that you were still gone when the announcement was made! You see, grandfather grew very ill about a month ago, and he urged to seek a husband so I… In case grandfather…”, she struggled to finish but Inaho knew what she meant. She collected herself and continued, “so that is how I was engaged to Lord Cruhteo’s son, Klancain. He is such an amazing man, and very kind too.”

Something wasn’t right. Inaho remembered Slaine’s talk about Lord Cruhteo. Lord Cruhteo had been the main orchestrator of the hatred aimed to him and his father for not only their use in magic but also their birth origins. If Lord Cruhteo came across the information that Slaine had been turned in to a beast, Lord Cruhteo’s memories of the night of Slaine’s father’s death would resurface. This would cause him to want to immediately execute Slaine on first sight.

“Seylum, do you happen to know if Lord Klancain told his father about Slaine’s curse- specifically if he told him Slaine was turned into a beast?”

“Yes, most likely. Tomorrow we will be traveling to take Lord Sazzbaum in to custody, but we will go to the manor where Slaine is kept afterwards. Lord Cruhteo offered to take some of his men to accompany me for protection.”, princess Asseylum looked at Inaho with a look of gratefulness. She was so oblivious to Slaine’s past. She didn’t know, so it wasn’t like Inaho could blame her.

“On our way to Slaine’s manor, could I ask you to travel secretly with me, separate from Lord Cruhteo’s men? Lord Sazzbaum could have assassins ready to kill you once you set foot within those woods. If everyone believes you are traveling in a closed carriage, the assassins will go after it to have a last chance at your head. Therefore, if you’re not inside the carriage, the assassins will never be successful in case they overtake it.”

“As always, you are thinking two steps ahead of our enemies Inaho”. She placed her index finger in front of her mouth, “it’s a deal”.

 

 

 

The next morning, all of Lord Cruhteo’s men were ready to part with instructions to kill any beast on sight. Inaho too was ready with the princess who was wearing a disguise fueled by magic. Inaho and the princess went up ahead and arrived to the manor before any of the other men could catch up.

When they walked inside the manor, Inaho called out to Slaine. When he did not appear, he took the princess to the study room that had a secret compartment in it. “In case I cannot find Slaine before Lord Cruhteo’s men enter the castle, hide inside this secret compartment”, he explained. Princess Asseylum looked to him with a slight sign of confusion, but didn’t ask questions.

Inaho ran through the many halls calling Slaine’s name, until he finally found the blond beast looking out a window.

“You brought Lord Cruhteo’s men straight here to kill me, and you brought her highness as well? I don’t understand…”

“Slaine, if there’s anyone who can break the spell, it’s probably princess Asseylum. You still love her right? She agreed to kiss you in order to break it.”

“And make her see me like this? She’ll faint before being able to greet me Inaho. Also… I do love her highness, but not in that way. At some point when we were oblivious kids, I guess I must’ve had a crush on her. However, I knew my place. My feelings for her are of admiration and loyalty more than anything else.”

“You should’ve said that to me before I went through all this trouble, Slaine.”

“You never consulted me about breaking the spell in the first place, orange!”

“Well, we had to break it eventually! Also, the sooner the better! So hurry up! Who do you love, then? Lemrina?”

“We’ve gone over this Inaho…”

“My sister then?”

“W-what?! No!”

“Well, that’s everyone I can think of. You don’t have many friends, bat”, Inaho said while looking at Slaine frustrated. Slaine sighed.

“No, you’re missing one more person,” Slaine replied unable to look at Inaho in the eye.

Inaho waited, thinking. “You mean, me?” Slaine’s lack of response seemed to serve as an answer. Inaho rubbed his temples and let out a frustrated sigh. Slaine looked at him now. “You would have saved me a lot of work if you had just said that.”

“W-what?!”

“Isn’t it obvious that I have romantic feelings for you, Slaine Troyard? Ever since we were kids, I liked making you mad when you thought we were rivals for Seylum’s love.”

“W-w-wait! That’s not-! How can you say that was obvious?! I thought you loved her highness! You, more than anyone, had a chance to marry her due to your high ranking title!”

“Seylum noticed how much I enjoyed teasing you, and she caught on quickly. How come you couldn’t? You’re so blind, bat.”

“Well, I can’t read minds Inaho!”

They both looked at each other, incapable of believing the other returned their feelings.

                                               

When Lord Cruhteo’s men arrived at the manor, princess Asseylum and the two boys were waiting inside. She explained to Lord Cruhteo that Slaine’s curse had been lifted, and that there was no one in the manor, but he was free to send his men to check. She then looked at the two boys and smiled. She was glad they were able to find happiness in each other.

Sometime later, Lord Sazzbaum was stripped off his title and was imprisoned after a fair trial. King Rayregalia grew ill from old age, and allowed Asseylum to rule in days he was too ill to. Lemrina was given Lord Sazzbaum’s land to do as she pleased. Meanwhile, Slaine was asked by Inaho to come live with him in his state. Slaine was given two rooms for himself. A bedroom, and a large study where he could continue studying magic. Inaho kept his position as a strategist, but tried to avoid face-to-face combat and battles as a request from Slaine. Outside forces and tricky spells could never bother or separate them ever again~

**Author's Note:**

> I think I've already said most of what I wanted to say, specially to Paperballoon. I was really nervous and anxious of what they might've thought once they eventually got around to reading this. It made me really happy to hear they liked it. I'm not a good writer at all, but I tried my best (o////u////o). I hope you all found some enjoyment in the story as well. Thank you A.Z hell fam!


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